The LEWTON BUS Live Oscar Chat

We're pretty sure we have the right envelope.

Last night, the Lewton Bus crew sat down for a roundtable discussion during the 2017 Academy Awards. Reading this, you’ll feel like you’re really there. And by “there” I mean “sitting on your butt in front of a computer.”

Allen Strickland: Well the red carpet festivities are underway and the schmoozing is now in full force

Taraji P. Henson

Arzner’s Fishing Rod: I’m not here for good but I just want to say got dam was Taraji beautiful. I don’t know what to do with myself now

Arzner’s Fishing Rod: Like, I dgaf about the awards or anything, but I care about beautiful dresses, and she was a goddess

Allen Strickland: An excellent question Andrew. I know I have it as my second favorite film of the year. Radcliffe’s performance is easily the best of his career.

Wesley Allsup: Not only does Brie Larson look amazing (as if she couldn’t) I’d love to know how that dress was made

Emmett Walsh: Late to the party but Emma Stone is very on brand with that Veronica Lake look.

Wesley Allsup: How do they keep the wavy look?

Adam Bumas: It’s more a work of architecture than fashion, I believe

Allen Strickland: Since Andrew brought it up I’ll poll the group. What’s your biggest snub from the nominations?

Arzner’s Fishing Rod: Silence obviously, Arrival and The Handmaiden are also up there

Adam Bumas: Between Silence for BP and Amy Adams for Best Lead… Actually, I forgot about John Goodman from Cloverfield Lane, put me down for that

Allen Strickland: I think the premise carries Arrival more than the performance but a decent point

Arzner’s Fishing Rod: Though Handmaiden didn’t have a chance because South Korea didn’t submit it, as they didn’t want to be represented internationally by a lesbian movie

Wesley Allsup: Amy Adams is one of the biggest snubs, Silence too

Arzner’s Fishing Rod: I’d also say Issei Ogata should have got a supporting role nomination and Patrick Stewart for Green Room. That’s going to be one of his all time performances, and Tadanobu Asano also deserved a nomination for Silence.

Wesley Allsup: at least 3 Japanese actors in Silence could easily deserve best supporting actor

Adam Bumas: Was Issei Ogata the Inquisitor?

Arzner’s Fishing Rod: Yep

Allen Strickland: I think Silence’s problem is that practically no one saw it, It never had a matinee showing near me.

Emmett Walsh: A girl I used to work with’s aunt was Lin’s date, maybe, if her Facebook post was anything to go by

Wesley Allsup: its release was a total f@#$ up

Arzner’s Fishing Rod: I’d also say Rima from Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Anya Taylor-Joy for The Witch, and Gosling for The Nice Guys,I’ve got a whole parallel list

Adam Bumas: I wouldn’t mind Silence getting a Best Hair And Makeup, if only for Garfield having my literal dream hair

Arzner’s Fishing Rod: Beyoncé also deserves a special oscar, for just generally best person on the planet with the most earthshaking work of art in decades.

Allen Strickland: Damien Chazelle rocking a DOPE blue tux

Emmett Walsh: Blue tuxes are always dope

Adam Bumas: I’m happy with any non-traditional menswear, tuxes are a masterpiece of engineering and simplicity, but I appreciate variety

Wesley Allsup: I dont like Mahershala Ali’s black on black tux, I’ve never understood that style

Andrew Clark: Did you see those clips just now? Everything looks the same

Adam Bumas: Which movie did you watch? There was a lot going on sartorially

Allen Strickland: Best Supporting actress is coming up soon, what’s everyone’s take on this? Gotta be Viola Davis right?

Bee McGee: Totally Davis

Adam Bumas: Well I’m not sure about anything anymore

Kevin Kuhlman: I found everything about Fantastic Beasts to be bland, uninteresting, and mediocre, so that’s just me

Kevin Kuhlman: Viola is a lock

Adam Bumas: Did people just see pictures of Suicide Squad?

Galena: It’ll probably go to Davis, but if not I hope Naomie Harris gets it

Andrew Clark: So my streaming is ten seconds behind or something so I will be in and out so I’m not spoiled

Wesley Allsup: same as above, but more like 30 seconds

Kevin Kuhlman: Viola got robbed a few years ago, so she’s in line to win this year. The one thing the Oscars are usually good at is rewarding an actor/actress in hindsight

Galena: I’m about 30 seconds to a minute behind some of you

Adam Bumas: Serviceable Ben Carson joke

Wesley Allsup: Its Jimmy Kimmel, he’s nothing special

Allen Strickland: Best Documentary Feature is up and we’re about to see the culmination of “The Year We Came Back Around To The OJ Story”

Adam Bumas: I liked his early stuff

Kevin Kuhlman: I wanna give a standing ovation from my couch right now

Allen Strickland: Katherine Johnson the basis of the film Hidden Figures is now on stage to help present Best documentary feature

CJ Robinson: What did I miss

Allen Strickland: Academy Award Winning Film Suicide Squad

Kevin Kuhlman: O.J.: Made in America wins

Allen Strickland: And with that victory ESPN now has secured its first Oscar. This also marks the first time ESPN has ever been thanked on stage at the Oscars. Ezra Edelman dedicated his victory to Nicole Brown Simpson as well as victims of police brutality.

Allen Strickland: Kimmel just made an OJ Simpson joke that made even Mel Gibson cringe.

Emmett Walsh: Man, mediocre applause for “police brutality is bad!”

Kevin Kuhlman: Dwayne Johnson intro-ing “How Far I’ll Go”

CJ Robinson: Suicide Squad won?……..

Allen Strickland: With a prologue by Lin Manuel Miranda

Kevin Kuhlman: Lin Manuel Miranda rapping the prologue

Adam Bumas: Yep, clever device, knew he would make it in somehow. I think the song has a fair chance at winning

Kevin Kuhlman: If the two La La Land songs split the vote, it could definitely win

Kevin Kuhlman: Auli’i Cravahlo is killing this song right now

Allen Strickland: The EGOT narrative could very well push it over the top but I don’t think it’s quite as good as the La La Land nominees.

Adam Bumas: That obviously doesn’t matter

Wesley Allsup: Moana is a better musical than La La Land #shotsfired

Kevin Kuhlman: She’s only 16. This is an insane amount of gravitas for someone who can barely legally drive

Allen Strickland: Auli’i Cravahlo owned that performance.

Allen Strickland: Wesley I can’t even begin to tell you how wrong you are on that point.

Wesley Allsup: yeah I know, theres just no good argument against it

Kevin Kuhlman: That’s a bad take and you should feel bad

Allen Strickland: While I very much enjoyed Moana it isn’t even the composer’s best musical to come out this year. Let alone the best musical this year. Now if we wanna talk Hamilton vs La La Land, that could be a fun conversation.

Wesley Allsup: History will prove me right

Emmett Walsh: Yeah Moana is very good, but the songs are B/B+ at best

Wesley Allsup: Huh? Hamilton is one of the best pieces of art made in like a decade

Allen Strickland: I agree.

Andrew Clark: Haha, okay, let’s rate these Walmart commercials

Andrew Clark: Poor effort from Fuqua, I say

Allen Strickland: I think La La Land is fairly transcendent as well though. I think each push their respective form to it’s limits.

Wesley Allsup: La La Land doesn’t compare to Hamilton

Wesley Allsup: basically nothing does

Kevin Kuhlman: Hamilton > La La Land. It’s not even a close question

Wesley Allsup: yeah no kidding

Kevin Kuhlman: And I’m on the La La Land should win Best Picture train

Andrew Clark: “They are not Stallone girls” :joy:

Wesley Allsup: Yep me too

Allen Strickland: I’m not saying La La Land is better. Just that La La Land vs Hamilton is a more interesting conversation than La La Land versus Moana.

Galena: “A president who believes in both arts and sciences”

Emmett Walsh: Individually, Moana’s songs are good but they’re not LMM’s best, and they don’t add up to anything in the film

Emmett Walsh: The lack of a powerhouse finale is really telling

Wesley Allsup: Honestly the entire tragic romance of La La Land is captured in like, 2 songs in Hamilton, and there’s everything else on top

Emmett Walsh: How they don’t combine “How Far I’ll Go”, “Where You Are”, and the voyaging theme is bananas.

Adam Bumas: What else do you call “I Am Moana”, man?

Allen Strickland: Beautiful speech by Cheryl Bond Isaac’s

Adam Bumas: I saw Javier Bardem there for a second, glad to see him out and about

Emmett Walsh: “I Am Moana” is good, but ending the film on a reprise of a song we’ve already heard is borderline catastrophic.

Kevin Kuhlman: Sound Editing and Mixing. Let’s see if the La La Land sweep begins here

Allen Strickland: Chris Evans is taking the stage to present the sound awards and once again make me feel generally inadequate as a man.

Kevin Kuhlman: ARRIVAL FTW WOOP WOOP

Wesley Allsup: If it’s any consolation Allen, you’re probably both about as good as each other at directing though

Galena: It’s great to see Arrival acknowledged

Allen Strickland: Arrival was not at the top of my list for Sound Editing so this was a bit of a surprise. I had Hacksaw Ridge here.

Adam Bumas: Yeah, I assumed that was gonna get it

Allen Strickland: Hacksaw is also my pick for mixing

Wesley Allsup: eh, I’m happy for Hacksaw to leave with nothing

Kevin Kuhlman: And you would be right

Kevin Kuhlman: Hacksaw wins Sound Mixing

Allen Strickland: A well deserved win for Hacksaw Ridge. Brilliant use of sound. So far the La La Land wave hasn’t happened. Will be interesting to watch the rest of the way.To be clear I didn’t have them winning any of these awards so far but it isn’t getting the sweep some expected.

Kevin Kuhlman: Yeah, it wasn’t the favorite in any of the categories thus far, so I’m not shocked it hasn’t happened yet

Emmett Walsh: It didn’t have the momentum that mega sweeps like Titanic and ROTK had

Kevin Kuhlman: It also didn’t have the benefit of a weak year like Titanic and ROTK had

Allen Strickland: Next up is best supporting actress. Worth noting that three of tonight’s five nominees are women of color. Whether it’s a reaction to last year or not, the diversity of tonight’s nominees absolutely matters.

Kevin Kuhlman: intro’d by Mark Rylance and his weird hat

Wesley Allsup: AKA the man who stole the Oscar from Sly

Emmett Walsh: Hard pass on that hat, and on Mark Rylance in general

Wesley Allsup: good chat by Rylance though

Adam Bumas: Come on, Weez, Sly shoulda won but Rylance was amazing in Bridge of Spies, The two things can be true

Wesley Allsup: He was great in Bridge of Spies and he seems like a great guy but he’s also the monster who stole the Oscar from Sly

Emmett Walsh: He was fine in Bridge of Spies

Emmett Walsh: He’s a great internal actor who goes internal 100% of the time

Allen Strickland: Not a great clip to introduce Michelle Williams

Kevin Kuhlman: Michelle Williams was snubbed for CERTAIN WOMEN

Adam Bumas: What else can they use?

Kevin Kuhlman: Viola wins

Allen Strickland: Viola Davis wins #asexpected. She’s had a pretty fantastic run over the last few years.

Kevin Kuhlman: Also, that clip from Lion for Kidman was during a scene where our protagonist accuses his adoptive mother of only wanting him because she’s barren, which is f-d up to a supreme degree

Emmett Walsh: Honestly Adam a film about Neil Armstrong sounds terrible. And I say that as a space nut

Adam Bumas: This is Chazelle, I doubt it’s a normal biopic. Although, to be honest, a movie about Buzz Aldrin would be a lot more fun.

Emmett Walsh: Armstrong was a human robot who got the nod because a) the aforementioned robot nature and b) Gus Grissom died in apollo 1. Unless that film is called “Good Luck Mr. Gorsky” it’s a hard pass.

Allen Strickland: We’ve now arrived at Best Actor which would be the most divisive category by far if it wasn’t for best picture.

Adam Bumas: IT’S BRIE

Kevin Kuhlman: FEEL THE DENZEL. FACE THE FENCES

Adam Bumas: D-FENCE! D-FENCE! D-FENCE!

Allen Strickland: Casey Affleck wins and I’m sure all will have calm and measured reactions to this news.

Bee McGee: GAAAAAAAAAAAAH SHOULD HAVE BEEN DENZEL

Adam Bumas: Denzel’s tearing up

Adam Bumas: Gosling’s completely fine with it

Emmett Walsh: Man, just a bummer

Galena: “man, I wish I had something bigger and more meaningful to say”. Certain other performances did in my opinion.

Allen Strickland: Next up is best actress which I think will go to Emma Stone but feels really up in the air.

Adam Bumas: I think it’s down to her or Huppert

Allen Strickland: Even Meryl knows she shouldn’t have been nominated

Kevin Kuhlman: Emma wins.Definitely deserving. That role is kind of a nothingburger and Stone puts everything into it

Allen Strickland: Stone’s performance in La La Land is genuinely stunning. The amount of emotion she puts into the role is astounding. She is genuinely devastating in the role

Kevin Kuhlman: Stone earned this one for sure

Kevin Kuhlman: Uno màs

Allen Strickland: And with that we are down to the final award, the big one, best picture. Get your picks in now folks.

Allen Strickland: I’m going with La La Land

Kevin Kuhlman: Back to Affleck winning Best Actor — I haven’t seen Manchester, but I know that Affleck has long been a great actor. His performance in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is one of the great supporting performances ever. That said, the disturbing information about his sexual assault accusations isn’t something that should have been taken lightly

Kevin Kuhlman: I’m sticking with Moonlight for Best Picture just from a gut feeling, but I’ll be shocked if that happens. La La Land is almost certainly going to win

Allen Strickland: Now we find out how hot the takes are gonna be tomorrow.

Kevin Kuhlman: I still think Manchester is a dark horse here. It could win based on winning the most #2 and #3 votes given the way the voting works

Allen Strickland: I think La La Land has won too many categories to lose at this point.

Emmett Walsh: Beatty looks like he just found out he’s presenting an Oscar

Allen Strickland: La La Land wins

Kevin Kuhlman: That’s about right

Kevin Kuhlman: 7 of 14, 3 of the big 5. Not a bad haul

Bee McGee: Well, time to avoid Twitter for the next week

Allen Strickland: I’ve got no complaints here. La La Land is a true piece of cinematic magic. Full of tour du force performances and excellent craftsmanship.

Kevin Kuhlman: Wait, what the hell?Moonlight won.

Galena: What?!

Kevin Kuhlman: This is insanity

Allen Strickland: Ummm. What just happened?

Kevin Kuhlman: Moonlight won

Adam Bumas: What the f@#$ is going on

Galena: Did the presenters play a prank?

Adam Bumas: I feel that’s justified, Allen

Kevin Kuhlman: They had the wrong envelope. Wow. THIS IS THE PART WHERE I BRAG ABOUT CALLING IT

Allen Strickland: That’s an almost inexcusable mistake. You can’t hand out the wrong envelope for your biggest award.

Adam Bumas: THIS IS THE BEST

Galena: Oh dear, that’s an unfortunate mix-up

Kevin Kuhlman: Film twitter just had a stroke

Adam Bumas: THIS IS THE BEST AND OUR WORLD IS A FARCE

Kevin Kuhlman: Everyone seems to be taking it in stride, but wow you can’t mess that up

Adam Bumas: We’re being intercut in a farcical montage before we cut back to the White House

Kevin Kuhlman: At least La La Land won the popular vote #topical

Adam Bumas: I hope the movie we’re in gets some awards

Emmett Walsh: “The Aristocrats!” – Jimmy Kimmel

Kevin Kuhlman: My heart was right. Moonlight earned this award. For those who haven’t seen it: it’s currently available to rent on amazon

Allen Strickland: I don’t quite understand the logic of Moonlight not winning any of the big five besides best picture, but my understanding is that it’s a deserving film. I’ve yet to have the opportunity to see it.

Kevin Kuhlman: It won adapted screenplay

Kevin Kuhlman: Which is the same as Spotlight (original) last year

Allen Strickland: Fair point. Just weird that it lost every category that it went head to head with La La Land with but that one. Once again not knocking it, just figured it would have won at least one of those other head to head battles if it was gonna take it. I am looking forward to renting Moonlight now though. Final thoughts everyone?

Andrew Clark: What the f@#$. No but really this is cool but damn stage crew at the Kodak what the f@#$

Kevin Kuhlman: Good show all around, even if it ended on a bananas note. Glad to see Moonlight and Arrival get love and I can’t really argue against any of the winners. The least arguable Oscar’s in years. It’s the first time a big 5 category winner didn’t make my blood boil, at the very least

Emmett Walsh: It’s really a shame that Moonlight win will forever be tied to that f@#$ up

Kevin Kuhlman: The people behind La La Land had their hearts ripped out on stage and Moonlight got the shaft. It’s sad for everyone. And with that, I bid thee adieu

Allen Strickland: Yeah if I’m a studio head at either Summit or a24 I’m calling up and ripping the academy and the venue a new one. That’s humiliating to both crews.

Adam Bumas: This is going to change the proceedings forever now

Emmett Walsh: Yeah. Remember how for years people said Marisa Tomei only got her Oscar because of a f@#$ up?

Adam Bumas: Explain?

Emmett Walsh: So, Marisa Tomei won the Oscar for My Cousin Vinny, but for years people said that she only got it because Jack Palance couldn’t read the card and just said the last name he heard.

Adam Bumas: What evidence is there on that front?

Andrew Clark: The inability of people in my industry to appreciate La La Land is the most frustrating thing I have to deal with right now. It’s all young folks, too. My age or younger.

Adam Bumas: I’m sorry, Andrew

Andrew Clark: It’s okay. It’s just difficult because I’d love to bond with these people but they have almost no ability to say “Hey, more than one thing is good”

Adam Bumas: It’s one of those movies where you have to either not engage with it, or engage with it all the way, to be on board with it

Andrew Clark: Yep.

Adam Bumas: See also: Kingsmen, most Gilliams and Blacks

Andrew Clark: Mmmmmmmmhmmmmm

Adam Bumas: I maintain we’re living in an offbeat farce about a professional gambler

Andrew Clark: So an absurdist Rounders

Adam Bumas: Not really with cards, more of a bookie. I can’t tell whether the gambler keeps miraculously, improbably winning or miraculously, improbably losing, but my instinct says it’s the former. I hope it’s a quality production, this movie we’re in

Andrew Clark: Me too, buddy. Me too.

Andrew Clark: Like a Matt Reeves, at LEAST.

Emmett Walsh: none, because if Palance had actually read the wrong name, well, we saw what would happen

Adam Bumas: I think there were just multiple envelopes made as failsafes. …wait, oh my god, this is almost literally what happened in Bojack Horseman. That was the nominations, not the actual ceremony, but…

Emmett Walsh: Somebody’s gonna get fired

Bee McGee: You just know that someone already wrote their joke for next year where whoever gives out BP makes a big show of looking at the back of the envelope first

Andrew Clark: With all respect to the producers who handled that with aplomb, that is a real night ruiner.Not just for the losers, but for the winners

Allen Strickland: The La La Land team handled it like champs but they have every right to be furious.

Emmett Walsh: Meanwhile, in the writers room, Bruce Vilanch calmly takes off his glasses and pours himself a drink.“It is accomplished.” He takes a single sip, then stares into the middle distance.

Allen Strickland: They spent the whole night thinking it was leading to this moment but and then were told they got it to have it ripped away from them.

Allen Strickland: Well that’s a wrap folks thanks for joining in, I’m sure we’ll be discussing this for a while.